Airship mooring drum



22 19.27. March f R. M. GETCHELL.

AIRSHIP MOORING DRUM Filed April l0. 1922 3 Sheetsu-Sheet l ili llrlIIlll J u l l l n R. M. GETCHELL AIRSHIP MOORING DRUM March 22 1927. l 1,622,139

Filed April 1o, 1922 s sheets-sneu 2 AIRSHIP MOORING DRUM Filed April lO. 1922, 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

UNITED `sieur'11s ROBERT M. G'ETCIE-IEl'illlr,l OF DAYTON, OHIO.

A-IBSHIP MOORING DRUM.

Application mea April Io, 1922. semaine. 551,309.

This invention relates to airship mooring means and more particularly to a mooring drum therefor capable of drawing in and releasing a ship moore-d thereto. I

lt is well lino'wn to those skilled in the art that an airship, for instance, a balloon, must have exceedingly strong moorings in. order to Vprevent its brealringavvay there-4 from in a high wind, but as it is also neces sary to prevent straining the cable, the nose or portion of the balloon to which the cable may be attached or themooring means due to sudden stress, provision niust be made to reduceI the shock of such a sudden stress to a minimum.

It isA therefore 4one of theI objects of this invention to provide a strong and ydurable mooring means capable or' resisting the greatest stress that may be putV npon it by airships of enormous size. V

It is another' object of the invention to provide means whereby all pullingA stress may be resiliently and gradually taken' up and the load gradually placed on the mooring means to absorb shocks. ln' this connection, means are provided for limited rotation of the drum under a sudden stress on. the cable. A further object is to provide means whereby any over-'load may be taken up without straining the mooring operating means, the mooring means, the mooring' cable.y or the airship. o p

Further objects are to provide improved details of construction and of operation, which will more particularly vapp'eari'rom the following description and claims and from ythe drawing in' whichrl Figure l is aside elevation of the .drum and its mountingf locking and operating means. o

Figure' 2 is an endelevation loolingat the left hand end of Figure l and showing the direction of Winding in.v f

Figure 3 is a longitudinal elevation partly in section taken on a longitudinal diametral plane of the drum' showing the compression spring and reelI in normal position. i

Figure 4 is a view similar to that of Figure Sbt: showing thereel and spring position occupied under' abnormal condi'- OIS. l

, Eigure 5 is an end view of the netdlfiet and torq mechanism, looking from the right inligure` l; Y o .o j

Referringnrore perticrlarly to the datv ing, 2 indicates the mounting frame for the" drum housing 4, which is provided with bearings and 8. The bearing 8 is provided `lo'r the drum 28,. which, is in turn journaled at l0 on thel shaft l2. The shaft l2 extends through the bearings, is revo'l'uble therein, and is connected at its right handl end through appropriate gearing with a driving means hereI shown as, an electric motor. '14 designates the strengthening ribs on the drum casing'. On one end of shaft 12 is a gear 16' meshing with a `gear 18 carried by a shalt ol the' electric motor 20. The motor is secured to an extension 22 of the base of the mormtin'fg frame 2 and the drum housing is secure-d 'to the 'frame in any suitablemanner such as by bolts 24 as shown. A Crip-'shaped reel or drum 28 provided with suitable'lianges 26,.is mounted to overhang in bear-ing 8. rlhe drunrhasa centrally up'standing bearing portion 22 bearing on the vshaft l2 and adapted to be operatively connected thereto by means o1e a plug or lrey 3) screwed into the drumI bear inpr portion and slidably engagingin a lspi'- rally out keyvvay 34 in' the shaft'. lThis keyway may be cnt to permit the Wheel tov make one or vmore complete revolutions of the shaft. In the drawings it isy shown as permitting the drum to malte two complete rotations relative tothe shaft. The key 8O will abut against one of the ends 36 or 38 of the keyway preventing further relative rotation between the shaft or drum in that respective direction.l p Mounted on' hub' 22 between suitable antifriction means such as bearings 40 and 42,` more particularly referred to hereinafter, is a spring 44 which lis' adapted to expand and to be compressed as'I shown in Figures 3' and 4 respectively. v The spring 44 abuts against the bearings 40, 42 and at the open end of the' reel is enclosed in' a suitable guide and Iretainer 46, which may be secured to an abutment 48 formed on the bearing member 6i by screw-threads as shown or in any other desirable' manner. While a bearing hasbeen shown Within the retainer 46, 7 it is to be understood that it may" be dispensed with at this end and the' spring secured to the'abutment p l Tlre': eab'l'e C passL through suitable opening in thel form Vof a' slot in thev hous- SI.. allow-trie cette free pray' from end to end 'of being made Wide enough to the drum cylinder and the cable may be desirably secured to the drum reel by passing its inner end through an opening in the reel cylinder.

In order to prevent the spring 44 from jumping or chattering when the wheel is rotating, the bearings 4:0, L12 are provided. Thus also, when the reel rotates with the spring under compression, biting and chattering will be obviated.

The shaft is locked by an ordinary ratchet and dog as shown at D, Figure 1, and more particularly shown in Figure 5; as any suitable shaft locking means may be employed, the showing is conventional only. p

The operation of the device is as follows The cable is secured to the airship and the motor started, driving the shaft 12 through gears 16 and 18 to reel the ship in. The electric motor 2O may be connected to a power line in any suitable Inanner, but preferably through a reversing switch; however, the invention is not limited to electric motor driving means.

During normal operation the key 30 is held snugly against the `end 36 of the keyway by the action of the spring, and the sha-ft and reel rotate together clockwise as shown in Figure 2. Should an overload be placed on the drum due to any cause, i. e., a gust of wind against the ship, uncompensated or uncontemplated starting torque of the driving means, or the cable -catch during t-he reeling in of the ship, (the shaft turning clockwise as shown in Figure 2) the shock absorbing means will operate. The spring all is of sufficient strength to overcome the tendency of the pull of the ship on the cable under all normal loads to compress it, although on slight overload the reel will rotate for an instant slower than the shaft 1Q compressing the spring and absorbing the shook gradually. This shockabsorbing characteristic is of course independent of whether the shock be due to an increased pull on the cable,sudden starting torque or increased torque of the` shaft 12, whether it be driven by motor or otherwise as will be readily apparent from an inspec tion of the drawing. It will also be seen that the shock absorbing means operates in sub stantially the same manner should the drum be slowed down to a stop at any time during the unreeling operation as the reel may momentarily rotate faster than the shaft, the spring gradually absorbing the shock, bringing the ship to a stop resiliently.

lVhile I have shown and described my invention as applied to a mooring drum for airships, it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited as, for instance', it may be used for any sort of hoisting means or as a mooring means for marine ,vessels Various .modifications details of construction and mode of operation may also be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

llVhat I claim and ters Patent is 1. In a device of 'the character described, a driving shaft, a cable. drum mounted concent-rically of, revolubly of and slidable longitudinally with respect to said shaft, a fixed key in one of said members adapted to travel in a groove in the other of said members, a coiled spring governing the relative longitudinal and rotational positions of said drum and said shaft, and bearings on said shaft in contactwith the ends of said spring. .p

2. In a device of the character described, a driving shaft, a cable drum mounted concentric-ally of, revolubly of and slidable longitudinally with respect to said driving shaft, said cable drum being substantially cup-shaped but provided with a central beardesire to secure by Leting portion adapted to bear on said shaft,

an annular recess between said.` bearing portion and the inner walls of said drum, a lug fixed in said bearinff portion adapted to bear in a groove in said shaft to govern the relative positions of said shaft and said drum revolubly of and longitudinally with respect to each other.

3. In a device of the character described,

a driving shaft, a cable drum mounted con-V centrically of, revolubly of and slidable longitudinally `with respect to said driving shaft, said cable drum being substantially cup-shaped `but provided with a central bearing portion adapted to bear on said shaft, an annular recess between said bearing portion and the inner walls of said drum, a lug fixed in said bearing portion adapted to bear in a groove in said shaft to govern the relative positions of said shaft and said drum revolubly of `and longitudi nally with respect to each other, and resilient means governing the position of said key in said groove. p y

1. In a device of thecharacter described, a driving shaft, a cable drum mounted concentrically of, revolubly of and slidable longitudinally with respect to said driving shaft, said cable drum being substantially cup-shaped but provided with a central bearing portionadapted to bear on said shaft, an annular recess between said bear# ing portion and the inner walls of said drum, a lug fixed in said bearing portion adapt-ed to bear in a groove in said shaft to govern the relative positions of said shaft and said drum revolubly of and longitudinally with respect to each other, and a coiled spring governing the position of said key in said groove. Y

5. In a a driving shaft, a cable drum mounted concentrcally of, lrevolubly of t `and. sldable device of the character described,

longitudinally With respect to said driving shaft, said cable drum being substantially cup-shaped but provided With a central bearing portion adapted to 'bear on said shaft, an annular recess between said bea-ring p0rtion and the inner Walls of said drum, a lug fixed in said bearing portion adapted to bear in a groove in said shaft to govern the relative positions of said shaft and said drum revolubly of and longitudinally With respect 10 to each other, a housing for said drum, a support for said housing, and a coiled spring having friction-reducing bearings With said housing and With said drinn and adapted to govern the position of said key in said 15 O'roove. y c In testimony whereof I affix lny signature.

ROBERT M. GETCHELL. 

